BY SEÁN P. FEENY
Fresh from performing sell-out shows at Vicar Street, Dublin, this month's Lisa Richards Comedy Night was headlined by one of the biggest names on the Irish comedy scene to-date.
It had been one of the most eagerly awaited performances hosted by the Balor Theatre, and the man himself, Des Bishop, certainly delivered.
With big comedy acts there is always the worry that you may have seen or heard their material before, in a show or a DVD, but this was definitely not the case with Bishop.
He is well-known for being a man who's up for a challenge, and his current situation is no different as he has taken on the huge task of learning the Irish language.
Now living in the Connemara Gaeltacht for two months, Bishop has already learnt an impressive amount and along the way come up with some great anecdotes.
The first part of his performance was mainly about his task of learning Irish in preparation for his show at the end of the year, 'In The Name of the Fada'.
Even people in the audience with very basic Irish were able to follow the hilarity of how he is coping with this tough job.
One of the greatest stories he had to tell was how it came about that he is now known as the 'Kit Kat man' in the Connemara region.
On his way to Dublin he stopped in a shop in the area to buy a Kit Kat and felt he was confident and ready to ask for one in Irish. Instead he asked the woman if she was a Kit Kat and on his return everyone had heard the story, as word spreads fast in Connemara, resulting in people jokingly saying to him to 'take a break'.
The second half of the performance was filled with great jokes and stories of the comparison of mass here and where he grew up in America. We love to laugh at ourselves when it comes to hearing things like the Irish can't queue for communion in an orderly fashion.
He also talked about performing in New York and Boston and his relative anonymity over there, but ending up doing a show in front of 1700 Americans who didn't know him and 50 Irish guys in the top corner of the theatre who had passed around one of his DVDs.
It's great when he goes off on a rant about a particular topic, like his non-believer friends that still bless themselves when they drive passed a church or graveyard 'just in case'.
This was a great show laden with brand new material and the audience got a great preview of what his new show will be about. No doubt by then he will have conquered the Irish language.
Support acts always deliver at the monthly comedy night in the Balor, and Christian Reilly's blend of music and comedy went down a huge treat.
A man and his guitar, very funny songs, impressions combined with a very witty persona, Reilly immediately captured the Donegal audience.
Christian said to the audience 'It's going to be a long 20 minutes', unfortunately not long enough as he was so entertaining.
As always, the resident MC Jarlath Regan amused the audience with his views on local and national news stories and made sure to prepare the audience for the great acts appearing on the night.
The comedy night at the Balor is becoming hugely popular regular event and tickets are hard to get, but if you're looking for a great Monday night out you should do your very best to get a ticket for the upcoming headliners Andrew Maxwell and David O'Doherty, both comedians of the highest calibre in Ireland.
